T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Meredith Kodis, left, competes in the 100-yard breaststroke during Saturday’s Bobcat Invite at the Marshalltown YMCA/YWCA.

Marshalltown swimming and diving coach Angie Nelson didn’t know for sure what to expect from the Bobcats in their first full invitational of the fall season.

The Bobcats hadn’t done a full 11-dive meet yet in the young season due to limitations in some gyms, and it was a strong field for the swimmers with Johnston and Boone among the headliners.

As a team though, Nelson said she was pleased with the fifth-place finish and 126 points — behind Johnston, Boone, Carroll and Indianola.

“We cut a second and a half off of our medley relay, so that was a good time,” Nelson said. “We had some good time drops.”

The day started with diving in the morning. Nelson said she was impressed with how the divers did overall and understood that with the difficulties of an 11-dive event meant that there would be some ups and downs. Johnston swept the first three spots in the standings, with Ciara Wheeler taking a final score of 469.70. Hannah Taylor finished fourth with a score of 404.35 in the finals.

Abby Tollefson tied for sixth place with Jacie Flockhart of Boone at the score of 367.15. Kaisa Stanley finished eighth with a score of 344.20.

“We’ve all seen each one of them dive a little stronger in the first five,” Nelson said. “We focused on little things in the semi-finals and that was better and much cleaner. For each of my divers, the final three was great.”

Onto the swimming, where the Bobcats started off with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard medley relay with a full time of 2:03.03 and splits of 31.15 seconds from Averie Whitkop, 35.49 from Klaudia Hernandez, 28.42 seconds from Lesli Waltermire and a closing leg of 27.97 from Taylor Jones to bring home the finish. It was a highlight of the afternoon portion of the event and the best relay finish of the day for Marshalltown. In the other relays, the Bobcats finished seventh in the 200-yard freestyle relay and fifth in the 400-yard freestyle relay (led by a 56.26-second leg from Waltermire).

Waltermire capped off a good day with a fourth-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley with a season-best time of 2:28.04. Hernandez finished ninth in the same race with a time of 2:32.64. Waltermire also finished fifth in the 100-yard butterfly on 1:06.38.

Whitkop finished fourth in the 100-yard backstroke with a 1:05.77 (another season-best) and in eighth place in the 100-yard freestyle with a 1:00.40.

Nelson was impressed overall with how the team handled the added pressure and intensity of a Saturday invite.

“It’s a bigger deal, there’s a lot of extra [pressure],” Nelson said. “You’re swimming next to girls you know whose times are close to yours, so you’re racing. It’s a more predictable race and the girls generally will excel in this environment.”

Other notable drops included a 20-second drop in the 500-yard freestyle for Veronica Herrera and a 6-second drop in the 200-yard freestyle for Diana Espinoza.

Up next for the Bobcats is an invite at Ankeny Centennial on the DMACC Ankeny campus at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Bobcat Invite

Team Standings — 1. Johnston 393, 2. Boone 247.5, 3. Carroll 189, 4. Indianola 173.5, 5. Marshalltown 126, 6. Atlantic 97, 7. Grinnell 56, 8. Ottumwa 32.

EVENT RESULTS

(Champion plus MHS placewinners)

DIVING — 1. Ciara Wheeler, JHN, 469.70; 4. Hannah Taylor, MHS, 404:35; 6. Abby Tollefson, MHS, 367.15; 8. Kaisa Stanley, MHS, 344.20.

200 MEDLEY RELAY — 1. JHN (Rastetter, Swalley, Kaster, Taylor) 1:53.53; 4. MHS (Whitkop, Hernandez, Waltermire, Jones) 2:03.03.

200 FREESTYLE — 1. Jorja Culver, IND, 2:07.34.

200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY — 1. Olivia Swalley, JHN, 2:09.54; 4. Lesli Waltermire, MHS, 2:28.04; 9. Klaudia Hernandez, MHS, 2:32.64.

50 FREESTYLE — 1. Melea Axman, CAR, 24.47.

100 BUTTERFLY — 1. Jenna Currier, CAR, 57.73; 5. Waltermire, MHS, 1:06.38.

100 FREESTYLE — 1. Gianna Stasi, JHN, 58.20; 8. Averie Whitkop, MHS, 1:00.40.

500 FREESTYLE — 1. Brooklynn Kaster, JHN, 5:24.49.

200 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. BON (Gute, Wingert, Powell, Purtle) 1:41.88; 7. MHS (Janssen, Robinson, Randall, Stanley) 2:01.12.

100 BACKSTROKE — 1. Abby Rastetter, JHN, 1:00.33; 4. Whitkop, MHS, 1:05.77.

100 BREASTSTROKE — 1. Swalley, JHN, 1:06.31; 8. Klaudia Hernandez, MHS, 1:19.30.

400 FREESTYLE RELAY — 1. JHN (Rastetter, Kaster, Stasi, Swalley) 3:49.35; 5. MHS (Jones, Waltermire, Whitkop, Hernandez) 4:03.87.